WHEN YOU PRAY!

WHEN YOU PRAY!

Luke 11:2-9 KJV

2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

          Prayer presupposes a belief in God as a person. It assumes that he can hear and that he is willing to make himself available to us and to meet our needs. In the portion we have selected, the basis of the request is FRIENDSHIP but the basis of the response is IMPORTUNITY.

          Importunity is the Greek word anaideia which sounds a lot like “I – Need – a”, as in “I need a loaf of bread.” It means that I am without and is associated with begging and denotes “shamelessness.” The one making a request has set aside his shame for asking because of the urgency of the need!

          Effective prayer, as we see in verse 2, first acknowledges God, His holiness, His kingdom and His will. It is based on a personal relationship. That is not to say that God will not answer the prayer of one who is not his child, but that He is particularly interested in answering His own children.

          Persistence and forcefulness is indicated in verse 9 in which Jesus urges his disciples to ask, seek and knock. Actually all three activities are urged at once. Ask while seeking and knocking! Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “importunity” as: “to urge or beg with troublesome persistence.”

Dear Father, out of respect we hesitate to trouble you but you have urged us to powerful persistence in prayer. Thank you for all you are about to give in response to our praying. AMEN